Bad Rear Lateral Links


PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
Preparing for Rally 12, I was adjusting ride height and alignment and noted the bad grease boots on mine too. I also noted that the end of the links are protected by a heat shield to cut down on radiant heat transfer from the brake rotor to the bushing. I'll bet that heat is what makes these things crack and fail. The harder you are on the brakes, the more heat affects the boots, and the less time they last.

GT101, do you still sell the replacement boots?
 

NorthwoodGT

GT Owner
Jun 12, 2009
1,215
Michigan
I had my own custom ones made.
The TT power and track use is more than the original struts can handle.

View attachment 42401

while the units that 1 of 101 made are incredibly strong and rigid (and beautiful), they are actually over kill for the average street driver for a couple reasons. first off I'm guessing you will get some noise being that they are a heim joint design even with the neoprene inserts. secondly the OEM units are actually designed to bend and fold up should the car spin out and hit against something laterally. the bending and folding are necessary so the suspension and frame do not sustain any damage. I've seen many GT owners have to change these out from spinning out and hitting curbs. while it destroys the part and possibly a wheel, it usually doesn't hurt anything else on the car. the new replacement bushing design does sound like a good idea though and of course I have plenty of the OEM units always in stock for the occaisional mishap.
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,176
the OEM units are actually designed to bend and fold up should the car spin out and hit against something laterally. the bending and folding are necessary so the suspension and frame do not sustain any damage. I've seen many GT owners have to change these out from spinning out and hitting curbs. while it destroys the part and possibly a wheel, it usually doesn't hurt anything else on the car.

We've seen this a few times - when these OEMs units are sacrificial and can actually save a GT frame. The OEM units are perfectly strong in the axis they are intended to be used in and intentionally weak if hit off axis.

Can't recommend installing them over available OEM units.
 

NorthwoodGT

GT Owner
Jun 12, 2009
1,215
Michigan
We've seen this a few times - when these OEMs units are sacrificial and can actually save a GT frame. The OEM units are perfectly strong in the axis they are intended to be used in and intentionally weak if hit off axis.

Can't recommend installing them over available OEM units.

Zactly! the Lincoln LS and late Thunderbird use the exact same design link except about 3-4" shorter than the GT. I also know Ford was testing the 05/06 rear links on the NGT. not sure if they made it into production or not but I'm guessing the same engineering theory applies.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
I was only looking for the replacement boots, not the whole link. If the outer joint loosens up, then I'll buy the whole link.